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This month The Edge of the Forest reviews new Middle Grade fiction
celebrating the beauty and magic of the everyday. Whether at a Midwestern dairy industry pageant (Trollbridge),
in a rainsoaked Wales (Framed), or in a dry desert town of 43 (The Higher Power of
Lucky), the protagonists of these three superb novels find and create beauty in their own worlds.
Reviews by Kelly Herold, Big A little a
Trollbridge: A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale
by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
16-year-old Moira is a musical prodigy—playing as first harpist in the Minnesota Orchestra. She's a hardheaded,
organized girl, and suffers no fool gladly. Her role as a Dairy Industry Princess, thus, annoys her, but she'd agreed to
serve for her parents, who thought the extra publicity would be helpful before she turns professional.
Each year a slate of twelve Princesses are selected, and their likenesses carved from butter. (As a newish Midwesterner, I
will never understand the butter sculpture phenomenon.) When the State Fair is over, tradition dictates that the heads of
said sculptures be left on the Vanderby Trollhomn bridge. This year, however, the new mayor "felt the nearly one
thousand pounds of melting butter on the bridge was a danger to the sportsfishing insdustry."
On the afternoon the story begins, Moira is called to the bridge for a photo-op with the other Princesses. That's when the magic finds Moira. Actually, the magic reaches out a huge green arm and takes eleven princesses in one
fell swoop. Moira has to cling on to the troll's back in an attempt to save her friends. When she arrives to the troll's
world she's bruised, exhausted and afraid. Fortunately, a telepathic fox named Foss shows up to give her the score: the
Princesses are to marry the three sons of the huge troll, Aenmarr, and the photographer has already been consumed as a tasty
meal.
Moira's quest is simple—to save the Princesses and return home. But trolls are trolls, and not so easily eluded.
Matters become easier when a trio of brother-boy band musicians are captured and brought to Trollhomn. Together, Moira
and the brothers use skill, cunnery, and music to defeat Aenmarr and win over his wives and children. Only then they discover
Foss, the fox, has tricked them all along.
Trollbridge: A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale, writen by Jane Yolen and her musician son Adam Stemple, is a quick-witted,
engaging ride for the Middle Grade reader. They'll recognize the fairy tales behind the story—The Twelve Dancing
Princesses and The Three Billy Goats Gruff—and enjoy the protagonists' use of cunning and trickery in the name of good.
But, Trollbridge is more than a fun mystery for the 8-to-12-year-old set. It's also a meditation on the power of
music—all music, from classical to folk to rock 'n' roll. In Trollbridge music literally tames the
beast and, more importantly, creates lasting friendships and shared beauty.
Framed
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
If there's a novel I loved this year more than Frank Cottrell Boyce's Framed, then I don't know what it is.
Framed is a stunning, original work—a work infused with love, innocence, and deep wit.
Dylan is the last boy left in Manod, a small town in Snowdonia, Wales. Being the last boy left has its problems, most notably
Dylan has no one left to play football with. Oh, and the nastiest girl in school, Terrible, now has a clear bearth to
torment him. Otherwise, Dylan's life is pretty good. His parents own the town's garage, he has a genius little sister
(Minnie), a cute baby brother (Max), and an even-tempered older sister (Marie). His dad doesn't even get mad at him when
he mixes up oil and anti-freeze when working in the garage. Dad assigns him to the logs instead, which turn into a hilarious
diary noting the weather (always damp and rainy) and which villager has been in the garage each day.
Then things start to go wrong. Or, at least differently. Dylan remains ever optimistic, so he doesn't register the gravity
of events around him. First and foremost, the weather has changed. It rains every single day in Manod now, and people
don't enjoy the beauty of the village any longer. There have been floods in London, and nearly every man in the village
has left with family in tow to work on a new barrier. And the garage is in trouble. Dylan's parents can no longer afford to buy petrol ahead of time.
Their Mini Cooper disappears and all sources of income dry up. New mysterious people arrive to town and take up
residence in the quarries of Manod's mountain.
Dylan's father leaves the family and Dylan's mother, with her four children and a nearly defunct garage, is despondent.
The kids dream up ways to earn extra cash. When they discover the mysterious men on the mountain are guarding the collection of
the National Gallery in the quarry, saving the works of art from the ravages of the flood, they dream up a menu of
cakes with names like "Titian Tart." They have a connection to the men too. Lester, the man in charge of the collection,
overhears Dylan calling the family chickens by name—Donatello and Michelangelo. Understandably, Lester thinks
Dylan is interested in art and is impressed. He doesn't know that Dylan named the chickens after the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles.
Lester takes an interest in Dylan, showing him masterpieces worth millions. Lester is supposed to protect his masterpieces,
but he can't help looking at them and, most of all, lecturing about them. As Manod is a small town, others want to go up
the mountain with Dylan and see what's up there. A secret is never a secret in Manod. The first up the hill is Daft Tom,
a local lad who once tried to rob the garage. Dylan's Dad offered him a job instead and he's been there ever since. The first
picture Tom sees is a still life and it inspires him to create still lifes of his own in the town's store windows. A
viewing of Renoir's Umbrellas cures Dylan's mom of her depression. Over time, the National Gallery's collection
improves Manod and its inhabitants for the better.
But, when Dylan's father does not return, and petrol can still not be purchased, Dylan's mom puts the garage on the market.
That's when Minnie concocts her elaborate scheme to seal Van Gogh's Sunflowers, insured for 25 million. The children
complete a paint-by-number piece and make a substitution. I won't tell you what happens next, but I will tell you that
Framed is a must-read novel for children and adults ages eight and up.
There is so much beauty in Framed—from the transformative power of Art to the pure innocence and good
intentions of Dylan. He's not a reliable narrator—the reader understands much more than he does—but he
sees the best in his world. Spend a few hours viewing the world from his point of view, and you'll see everything
differently.
The Higher Power of Lucky
by Susan Patron, illustrations by Matt Phelan
Lucky has not had it, well, lucky. Her father has abandoned her, her mother died in the desert, and she lives in a
tiny dusty town of 43 residents.
Lucky's town, Hard Pan, doesn't have much going for it. There's an improvised beauty salon, a post office, and the
Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center. Lucky cleans up the Visitor Center, and spends her time eavesdropping
on the Anonymous meetings (smokers, drinkers, overeaters, and gamblers). She likes their stories and she's especially
inspired by their search for the Higher Power. If only she, Lucky, could find the Higher Power. Then she could
stabilize her life.
At the moment, Lucky doesn't feel that stable. She lives with her guardian, Brigitte, a Frenchwoman and Lucky's father's
first wife. Brigitte is homesick, still speaks to Lucky with French terms of endearment, and, most importantly, has kept her passport. Lucky knows what
that means: Brigitte will leave her in Hard Pan and head back to France.
Brigitte and Lucky live in an improvised home, comprised of three trailers linked together and mounted on concrete blocks.
She has one friend in town, a knot-fantatic named Lincoln, and is followed around by a sad 5-year-old boy named Miles
with a penchant for cookies and Are You My Mother?
Lucky decides to follow the twelve step program, embarking on the "next step after rock bottom, the getting-control-of-your-life
step." She decides to run away during a dust storm, taking a survival pack of her own design with her. Better leave than
be left.
The Higher Power of Lucky is a charming, powerful tale for the younger Middle Grade reader (7-11). Susan Patron
uses the Anonymous metaphor to good effect here. As Lucky herself explains, "It's almost impossible to get
control of your life when you're only ten. It's other people, adults, who have control of your life, because they can
abandon you." Isn't that the truth?
Lucky is a scrappy young protagonist and a straightforward narrator. She's also an intelligent girl, interested in biology
and Charles Darwin, and means well in her search for the truth. The reader roots for her in her attempt to take control
of her life, even when she makes mistakes, and is thrilled when she finally finds home.
Trollbridge: A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale, by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple. Starscape, 2006.
ISBN: 0-7653-1426-6.
Framed, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. HarperCollins, 2006. ISBN: 0-0607-3402-7.
The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron. Illustrations by Matt Phelan. Atheneum/Richard
Jackson Books,
2006. ISBN: 1-4169-0194-9.
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